Branding Case Study

A behind the scenes look at the Avenue De Saxe creative process as we create an updated brand for Williams Metal Fabrications

The Big Picture

Whether you’re a small startup, or an established corporate, your brand identity is critical in conveying the professionalism, the quality of service and the expectations of a potential client. The reality is those first impressions count. When approaching any new work, we can’t help but look at the bigger picture and how we might be able to help.

When we initially met with the Williams Metal Fabrications team to discuss a new brochure design it became apparent that there was a fantastic opportunity to include some new high-quality photography and a brand refresh.

“Feel good when you tell someone what your business is all about.”

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Rebranding Is Its Own Game

Williams Metal Fabrications was founded in 1998. After 14 years, the company now specialises in the mining, civil and construction industries. Over this time the business has diversified to adapt to the ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment of the steel industry. With their knowledge and experience, they continue to further grow the company within different areas and related industries.

With Breathe Marketing developing a new marketing strategy, the timing for a brand refresh was perfect. A new look and marketing material would be highly valuable to their strategy and put the company in a great position to pursue their new business goals.

With such an established presence, they didn’t want a logo that felt completely separated from their current look. After working with many established clients, we understand the desire to remain familiar but also current. This is where we come in! Rebranding is like a puzzle and it’s our job to find a solution that’s modern, fresh and remains true to the brand’s history and values.

What's The Goal?

With a solid brief in tow, our first step was to establish the elements we were going to focus our attention on and where we felt we could add our creativity. We decided to work on concepts that used a circle with a “W” and a blue colour scheme. Even in keeping these familiar elements present, we knew they would need to be completely reworked and evolved. Aside from looking at the pre-existing visual elements, we also needed to consider what Williams does. At their core, Williams works with and manipulates metal. This inspired us to explore ideas of fluid movement and tubular elements juxtaposed with clean breaks, angles and lines.

“We love the challenge of capturing the essence of your brand in a simple shape or graphic”

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Seeking Inspiration

Once we had a clear and strong idea of what we wanted to see established in the new brand, we started researching the industry, the competitors and how we could combine these into a successful story and identity. From there, we began to conceptualise ideas that felt unique, modern and stayed true to our initial brief.

Design Time

This rebrand had a very clear direction. There was a lot to explore, but it was distilled into one core concept. When creating a new brand from scratch, this step is usually much more diverse, as we will present a wide variety of concepts that explore a wider range of directions and styles.

In upgrading their current logo to a modern version, it was easy to see how the design would translate to future collateral, including print, web, signage, brochures and more.

Initial Presentation

Once we had a number of logo designs that met the brief, we created a presentation for the client that explored a range of concepts. Some stayed truer to the original brand, while others went a step further in a different direction. We wanted to make sure the options didn’t limit or push the client.

Decision Time

The Williams Metal Fabrications Team put the logo concepts to a vote amongst management. This helped establish a clear winner that people felt stayed true to their brand identity, but also moved the company forward and reflected their growth.

We felt confident moving forward knowing the logo strongly met the brief. The typography was now more balanced next to the graphic and the word ‘Williams’ was more prominent and memorable. The gradient was inspired by the hot flame from a welding gun, blue light being the hottest part of the flame transitioning to the cooler part. This subtle reference is an opportunity to metaphorically demonstrate what they do, whilst remaining true to the original company colour scheme.

The Big Reveal

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Delivery

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Logo Pack & Style Guide

Once we finalised the rebrand, we provided the client with a logo pack which included all file formats: standard jpgs, pngs with transparent background for web usage, and eps vector formats which can be scaled and used for print needs.

We also provided a style guide that provided clear instructions on how to use the logo correctly, which typefaces are used and the correct colour values.

Developing Brand Collateral

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Implementation & Rollout

With the logo finalised, we moved onto exploring all brand collateral in more detail. We used the new branding on the brochure, business cards, internal documents, email signatures, signage, uniforms and more. Quickly implementing the new logo to all areas helps establish the brand’s updated look and makes the transition quick and painless and ensure consistency across the company.

Photography

In addition to the new branding, we visited a number of locations including the main workshop to capture high-quality photographs. We created a visually strong and cohesive media library that showcases both completed work and action shots. These images were used in the new brochure design and will be a strong asset when applied to their online presence and future marketing endeavours.

As a one stop design agency, we explore the idea of visual identity and strategy from start to finish. We love seeing a brand come to life as it moves through each element and helps your brand find it’s visual solution.